Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

Directed by Alex Gibney, Going Clear is a feature documentary that caused quite a stir when it was released earlier this year (2015). It instantly received widespread praise from movie critics and was nominated for seven Emmy Awards, winning three, which included Best Documentary.

The film itself dives straight into the deep end of Scientology and we quickly learn of the history behind the infamous “Religion” and it’s founder L.Ron Hubbard. It examines the celebrity culture associated with the church and highlights how many members put up with what could only be described as abuse and exploitation at the hands of their peers. Through a number of interviews with ex-members we also learn of the intricate and rather complex level structure each member must climb if they ever want to stand a chance of “Going Clear”.

EVERYONE who falls prey to places and Cults like this deserves any such happenstances which occur to them. I feel sorry for none of them. It’s truly Darwinism in action…The only one’s I feel ANY remorse for, are the Children that were brought up in this madness.

LaFlare1017

While I am on board with darwinism, I don’t agree that those people deserve to suffer. Whether a person joins scientology due to mental illness, low iq, or anything else that make them vulnerable to indoctrination, doesn’t mean they “deserve” suffering and torment. I feel sorry for them. Whether they should reproduce or not (more along the lines of the Darwinism thing) is a whole different story.

I agree with a lot of what you said, but I doubt Scientology would like to be near, or grouped with anyone of disability, mental or really even physical. Now if they have MONEY, that’s a whole another variable.

LaFlare1017

Yeah I hear ya, but what I meant by mental illness isn’t necessarily mental disability. I mean more like depression, addiction, emotional disorders, grieving people, anxiety disorders, elderly with deteriorating mental faulties, socially inept people seeking a sense community, people who have gone through trauma, and other issues people would seek help for.

They have a drug addiction rehabilitation program called “narconon”, and prison based reformed program called “criminon”, and courses meant to treat depression and other issues, and even a course called “Assists for Illnesses and Injuries” that claims to provide some sort of healing for people suffering from virtually any type of disease or injury, promising pain relief and healing etc. They target both the naive as well as the desperate.

The basics of some of these programs are just traditional self help type stuff, which might actually provide some sort of help in the short term with issues like depression and addiction, or maybe providing an alternative to gang life for those in the prison program, or give someone who is very lonely a sense of community, and thus building a false sense of faith in the program. Then, as they continue they increase the indoctrination by pushing the more bizarre and extreme beliefs, requiring members to recruit others, guilt tripping them if they want to leave by noting how they helped them, and eventually trapping them within the program and becoming abusive and threatening if the member does not comply. It’s a gradual process, they intentionally create a benign facade with excluding the most extreme believes in the beginning and starting with generally decent positive self help type stuff.

There are a lot of reasons people may fall victim to the program, and I’m guessing often it’s because there was something wrong situationally or mentally with the person. To fully believe in the program, and all of the bizarre beliefs, there has to be something off mentally with someone, as a sane person can see through it. Which is why I say mentally ill, because I think anyone who falls for a cult of any type is off mentally in one way or another.

Regardless, back to the original point, I feel sorry for those who get caught up and I do not believe they “deserve it”. While I do believe, for many who join, that they are to blame for getting themselves into the situation, and they are suffering the direct consequences of their actions, however I still don’t believe they deserve the cruelty of the program. There is a difference between being at fault and your mistake resulting in suffering vs deserving to be treated inhumanely. And regardless, that is a separate issue from darwinism, as rarely it will result in death, and rather often they may be encourage to have children and indoctrinate them as well.

BoxingCannabyte Epicurus

The biggest difference with scientology compared to other religions is it has a history that is much more clear and documented, it came about during the beginning of the Age of Reason when people en mass are dropping their religious beliefs with the spread of scientific literacy and further education, social media, etc.

What makes scientology scary is the same thing that makes any organized, wealthy and powerful religion scary: Their influence. In this case they are MUCH more modern, they use pop culture to spread their message. They recruit celebrities, they have a fucking celebrity center! Don’t think Christianity or Islam wouldn’t use this if they had been created in the 20th century, either!

califa007

Ehhrrrr….. The Age of Reason is already taken – generally the 17th Century. Along with the Age of Enlightenment of the 18th Century, which the Age of Reason
gave rise to, it is also know as the Early Modern period. Wikipedia.

Jack Jackson

Though more pointed this documentary barely scratches the surface. Read the book.

PlasticBiddy

“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.” – Einstein.

You Lie

I like the guy whos like “fuck me, i gotta do somethin about this shit.”

Grotesque is a man who would fool people into a place of hopeful serenity and salvation and then exploit them for money…

And now, let us hold mass.

Er Gun

I had to restart my browser to watch this video min. 20 times. Each time , I had to see the Stupid Pop-up Ads , each time I had to find the last scene that I was watching.. Pls DO something about this video- publisher not to give him credit that they have that much watchers etc on daily basis… Documentary is interesting but video-publishing site is really nerving!